WASHINGTON, DC (July 28, 2015) —
The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: Support Regulatory Relief for Credit Unions
Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi:
On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association exclusively representing the federal interests of our nation’s federally-insured credit unions, I write today in support of the regulatory relief efforts found in H.R. 427, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2015. As you know, in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act, the amount of federal regulation credit unions face is at an all-time high. Regulatory relief for credit unions is desperately needed and would enhance their ability to react to market conditions and meet the demands of their 100 million members.
The REINS Act would make an important step toward regulatory relief by requiring any executive branch regulation with an economic impact in excess of $100 million as scored by the Office of Management and Budget to come before Congress for an up-or-down vote before it could be enacted. It also allows greater Congressional scrutiny of other rules. NAFCU believes putting this legislative process into place could help ensure additional accountability from the Administration and Congress regardless of which political party is in the majority.
The impact of the growing regulatory burden on credit unions is evident as the number of credit unions continues to decline. Since the second quarter of 2010, we have lost 1,250 federally-insured credit unions – over 17% of the industry. The fact is that many smaller institutions simply cannot keep up with the new regulatory tide and have merged out of business or been taken over. It is with this in mind that NAFCU believes drastic actions to bring regulatory relief to credit unions are needed.
As part of our call for credit union regulatory relief, NAFCU has released a “Five Point Plan for Credit Union Regulatory Relief” and a list of “Top Ten Regulations to Eliminate or Amend,” both of which are included with this letter. We appreciate the House’s focus on regulatory relief and urge you to continue your work in this area.
Thank you for your leadership in bringing the REINS Act to the House floor and for considering additional ways to mitigate the excessive regulatory environment credit unions face. Should you have any questions or require any additional information please contact me or Jillian Pevo, NAFCU’s Director of Legislative Affairs, at 703-842-2836 or jpevo@nafcu.org.
Sincerely,
Brad Thaler
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.
